


Negligee

by lunaseemoony



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Romance, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Teninch Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 06:49:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3968491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec is buried in the middle of Danny's murder trial, the Sandbrook case, and his impending heart surgery when a sudden proposal from Rose creates a rift between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Negligee

**Author's Note:**

> For [KTRose](http://ktrosesworld.tumblr.com/), who asked for Alec smut. This is probably quite a bit different from what you had in mind, but here you go.
> 
> There are some slight spoilers to Broadchurch season 2 in this, but nothing too plot heavy. All the same, you've been warned.
> 
> Also, as a fair warning, this gets a bit angsty in places, and a little heavy in others. And NSFW.

Rose paced laps around Alec's little blue boat shack for nearly a quarter hour while drying her hair and chatting with her mum on the phone. In each lap her eyes fell on a little bag she'd deposited on the bed atop a tangled mess of blankets and throws. The plastic made its presence known by crinkling in the salty breeze coming in from the open window. And in each pass, Rose considered the bag, fumbling with a strap or laying a single finger to its contents. She tried to sit on the docks in front of the house, dipping a toe or two into the icy surface of the water, but she couldn't be made to sit still. That's not to say she didn't enjoy talking to her mum. Sometimes it was nice to fall into her old life of salon clients, boring shop girl work, and boyfriends she sometimes considered a figment of her imagination. Though it wasn't his fault, she still had the problem with the latter.

And she tried to keep herself busy. Though her mum didn't yet fully approve of her relationship with “a bloke with that much baggage,” she was okay with Rose following him to Broadchurch to be with him, after a good bit of arguing. Of course, Rose could go where she pleased, she was an adult, a free bird. Maybe while being employed at a tiny little hotel in a tiny little town in Dorset she didn't really _feel_ free. But at least she was making an income. Sad, really, that such a tiny operation could pay her a good deal better in wages than a chain store in the middle of London.

Whether some of those wages ended up being put to good use was arguable on this particular day. And once she'd set her mobile down on a kitchen counter there was nothing to distract her from her most recent purchase. The bright violet thing taunted her from the bed, calling to her with its bit of lace spilling out on one side. Part of her wanted to pick her mobile right back up and ring Shareen, who'd know what to do in this situation. Not that she didn't know the answer herself. She might have needed somebody other than the offending garment to tell her what to do with it.

“Ooh, you did _what_?” Shareen gasped, and then squealed. “Oh, sweetie, I'm so proud of you. What are you wasting time talking to me for?”

“Oh, I dunno,” Rose sighed. “Never bought anything like this before. I was broke with Mick. Didn't really want to anyway. This was on sale though, and I just, I dunno. I barely even tried it on! I rushed up to the counter and before I know it I wound up home with it.”

“You used to say if a bloke didn't notice you for who you were without that stuff that you wouldn't be interested. Is something going on between you two, sweetie? Oh, don't tell me he said -”

Rose pulled the phone away from her ear and fell back on the bed, staring upside down out one of the windows. She did enjoy the walls being lined with them, and the lengthy rows of blinds shadows they cast throughout the day. “Got hung up on work. I don't want to talk about it, Shareen.”

“Yeah you do. I _know_ you didn't ring me just to chat about lingerie. 'cause we totally can. Does it cut off nice and short? 'cause you know you've got -”

“You can stop right there.”

Rose made a vice around her mobile to avoid chucking it across the room. Normally she could get a good laugh out of Shareen's teasing. She wasn't in the mood for it, certainly not when she hadn't seen Alec in roughly 24 hours. It would be just her luck that she'd go out and by this scandalous thing only for him to not show up for another 24 hours.

“What? I'm allowed to notice, aren't I? Look, just try it on again. Wear it about the house so you're not a wreck when your lucky detective comes round, yeah?” Shareen softened.

“Yeah, you're right.”

“'course I am.”

Rose deposited her mobile in a drawer beside the bed this time, lest she be tempted to phone Keisha as well. All she was left to contend with was the garment and the bag that it lay in. She'd already bought it, and couldn't return it. She could either hide it in a drawer somewhere never to be found, or put it on again. The worst that could happen was she'd discover Alec didn't like it, or lingerie period. Well, there was worse. She didn't want to think about it. She shuddered and shook her head as she plucked the hanger out of the plastic bag and held it up in the fading sunlight.

It was an attractive shade of bright lavender. To Rose it stood out more on the racks than the bunches of reds, blacks, and pinks. If anyone asked, she would never confess to wandering the lingerie section of the department store in the first place. Pigs might have to fly before she'd admit that it was the sole reason for her visit to the department store. She might then have to explain that she wasn't always the rock hard secure adult female that everyone expected her to be. Rose hoped that nobody would ask why she'd buy it in the first place. How could she say that for once she felt like using a more cliché and conventional method for getting attention? She didn't want to approach how inadequate she sometimes felt compared to the much older, more successful woman that Alec shared a child with. That she wouldn't dare touch with a ten foot pole. And it was completely unfair to the poor, thin slip of fabric to expect it to solve all of her problems, none of which were so simple.

It might be more accurate to say that the negligee felt uncomfortable on Rose than Rose felt uncomfortable in it. That wasn't even factoring in the g-string it came with. And did the fact that a push up bra was built into it mean she was admitting to needing one? As she looked in the bathroom mirror she felt like a little girl again, trying to put on her mum's shoes. Shareen always told her to dress for her assets, and as she twisted around to look at her bum at least she couldn't complain too much there. But she didn't feel like a proper woman in this. She liked to think that it was because this was the first time in ages that she placed any degree of her worth on her looks.

And maybe, just maybe she wanted to be touched again. With everything that was going on in his life, it had been a while. She couldn't ever voice it, but it was getting bad. Alec had never been anything like the horny teenagers she'd dated. As Rose trapped a bit of chiffon lace between her fingers she imagined his playing with the airy fabric. Maybe he'd sneak them underneath and let them dance over her stomach, or cup her hip, gently snapping the bit of string there. He might lower the straps to the bra before ever looking at her breasts so he could nibble at her collarbone. Maybe he'd place a little kiss on the satin bow beneath her breasts while tracing every little lace flower with a single finger.He moved slow, painfully slow at times. But it had little do to with his heart condition. She'd push him to his limits if he let her. No, he was one to explore and study. First with his fingers, and then with his lips, making a complete map every time before he'd even removed any of his clothes.

When Rose heard the front door slam shut she opened her eyes and yanked her hand from beneath the hem of her knickers so she could throw on Alec's dressing gown. Given the speed with which she wrapped the wooly brown thing around herself, he might think she was trying to hide a stolen car underneath and not a slightly scandalous and lacy chiffon negligee. That is if he was actually looking, which as he crashed into the kitchen table, barely landing in the chair, he most certainly wasn't.

Asking if he'd had a rough day had become a bit of a running joke between them. Since Sandbrook, almost every day was a rough day. And if Rose thought that closing Danny's case would put them to and end, she was sorely mistaken, nearly to the breaking point. His skin looked like wrinkly sandpaper, stress and fatigue putting every one of his years on display. The orange glow from the sunset cast on his face only accentuated this. Asking if everything was alright or if he was okay was also a bust, because most of the time not everything was okay. Lately it had felt like everything was going to hell.

“Did it go poorly, Claire's meeting with Ashworth?” Rose murmured as she took a seat across the table from him. While she wondered if he'd answer her, she contemplated how she was going to get him to eat something. His answer came in the form of a low groan. “I've missed you. I haven't been in to the store, but if you'll be around for a bit maybe we can whip something up?”

“Not hungry,” he answered in a slur without looking up from the table.

Rose's hand jumped across the table to capture his, and she brought it to her lips for a little peck. Only as she let go did she realize her fingers were a bit damp, and she sucked in a quick breath while waiting to see if he'd notice. When he kept studying the grain pattern of the wooden table she sighed and rubbed her hand on the dressing gown. Her heart leapt into her gullet when she saw him shoving this same hand into his silky hair. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He'd be clued into something being amiss if she got any jumpier.

“You've got to eat something though,” Rose argued.

“Later.”

“But the doctor said -”

Alec looked up, face wrinkling in what appeared to be the beginnings of rage. “Honestly, Rose. I've had enough of wom- everyone arguing with me, telling me how I should do things.”

Rose pursed her lips and nodded. That was as close to a dismissal as she was going to get. She stood up and ran her fingers over the closed Sandbrook file that sat on the table before beginning to turn around.

“Could I have my dressing gown,” he muttered. “Going to pop into the shower.”

She was about to tell him to give her a moment and disappear into the bedroom when he reached out for it. Of course, she could just take it right off. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen what lay beneath the thing. Rose hugged it to her face for a moment, taking in the scent of mild soap mixed with sandalwood and salty Alec before shrugging it off her shoulders.

“Hm,” he barely quirked an eyebrow as he scanned her body. “New nightgown? Looks nice.”

“Yeah,” Rose croaked before she practically galloped out of sight.

Except that him asking for his dressing gown meant that he would follow her right into the bedroom, which he did a moment later as Rose was arguing (and losing, mind) with the straps to her “nightgown.” She didn't stop as he stood in the doorway watching her struggle. He glared at her a little before stepping up to her and grabbing her shoulders.

“Hey, stop. You'll rip it,” he urged as he eased the straps back up onto her now red shoulders. She bit back the thought that maybe ripping it would be a good thing before she could speak it. Rose froze when she felt his nose bumping her still damp hair, taking in its scent. There was no concealing her shaky breath since it rode a wave of slight hyperventilation. “What's wrong?”

Rose wiggled her head back and forth. “I mean, I know you've got a lot going on, it's alright. Go ahead and take your shower. I'll be in the kitchen.”

He slid his hands down to her arms and squeezed them. Rose wanted to close her eyes and float away in one of the boats dotting the docks outside. She opted instead for the view as the bedroom took on a purple hue between the red sun and Alec's blue blankets. Each passing moment was spent reminding herself to breathe even, that she had a human lie detector clutching her arms like his fingers were boa constrictors.

“Don't leave me in the dark, Rose. You promised, you know I can't.. after..”

Rose balled up her hands and sucked in a heavy sigh through her nose. She bit back what she wanted to say, which was the same should apply to him. But in his own way he had been as up front as a cop should be, which is not much, she guessed. On the rare occasion that the mood struck him he would tell her about his health. He'd never express his fears, especially about his impending surgery. But he didn't need to. He wore them on his wrinkled sleeves.

Rose pulled back on her lips and flared her nostrils, screwing her face up into a grimace. Her chest was like a bellows with her heart jumping on it to bring fuel to the fire, straight to her eyes. Rose knew exactly what was going on with Alec. It was _her_ that was keeping him from knowing her troubles. And part of it was not wishing to bother him. Her silly little girl problems seemed like just that when compared to life, death, police work, and court cases. Don't cry, she told herself. Don't cry. It would all fall apart if she cried. She was a grown woman, wearing a grown woman's clothes, in the arms of a grown man who very much did _not_ want to be comforting a blubbering idiot.

“I just miss you. I miss _us_ ,” Rose squeaked. Alright, a small bit of truth would be a good start.

He loosened his grip on her arms and rubbed them. A breeze from the window flew between them, rushing blood to her face and trembles down her spine. She felt as though she was naked, exposing her skin to him just as well as all of her anxiety.

“I'm here now, all night.”

“Yeah, and what does that mean? Case work? I saw you looking at that file.”

She shivered at his cool sigh drifting down to her shoulder, and the satin of his slate blue tie tickling the lavender lace on her back. “I won't touch it. I'll stay.. in here.. and we can do whatever.”

“Yeah, okay,” she squeaked.

He turned her around in his grasp. He had a way of tunneling behind whatever facade she put up for him, and judging by the frown that spread across his face this time was no different. Rose blushed and looked down at the floor, imagining it swallowing her up by her feet as she curled her toes into the sisal rug. She might have liked to be wearing her favorite t-shirt of his and a pair of shorts instead of this monstrous (and for a moment she thought it was beautiful) “nightgown.” She promised herself to not get any hopes up, that maybe it wasn't his thing. She promised she'd be chill, that she wouldn't put any pressure on her detective boyfriend with the heart condition. She sort of already broke that promise a few days ago, before she even made it.

He captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger to lift it up. “Look at me, Rose.” Her chin pulled at his hand, wanting to disobey, until she saw his eyes boring into her flushed cheeks and moist eyes. “Would you talk to me? I'm here, aren't I? Paying attention now, okay?”

He was straining so hard she could feel the stress and tension under his skin like a beehive that she'd poked with a stick. It was so much easier for him to bury himself in case work, even if he'd damn near killed himself once or twice. He did all of this for her benefit. The few times that she reminded him his inability to speak to people was part of what saw his marriage fail was more than enough to see to it that he'd try every now and again. It made the falling out they'd had over the first time she'd said it worth it in the end. But it also made certain that she couldn't hide anything from him. He'd hold her to the same standards.

Rose shook her head and shrugged at him, pulling at the straps to her bra. She might have begun to harbor a bit of resentment for it. The bloody thing was digging into her ribs, and she could feel her every thumping heartbeat in the cleavage of her bouncing breasts. It proved to be useless, and she craved the freedom provided by one of Alec's oversized t-shirts that she could escape wearing a bra in. Her evasions were grating at his nerves, she realized, when he gritted his teeth and squeezed her chin a bit. He didn't need to urge her further.

“I'm just a bit bummed about the other day, is all. Nothing to fret about.”

She watched his adam's apple bob in his throat behind the scruffy turf on his neck. He relinquished her chin to adjust his tie, loosening its knot as if it were a noose. “What, on the beach?” Rose nodded after she opened her mouth to release nothing but a croak as an answer. “You said you were alright, Rose.”

Alec Hardy was a brilliant man, make no mistake about that. Despite what the press liked to say about him, he was a good detective. Very clever. Ask anyone that agreed with this assessment (her favorite person to vent about it with was quickly becoming Ellie) and they'd tell you that he was also a thick-headed git.

She'd nagged at him to spare for her a few hours. Her plan was simple enough that it could be executed at any time. But it so happened that she had just enough time to gather up a picnic basket. They had a quiet picnic on Dorset beach on a balmy afternoon, and for once they weren't interrupted by locals picking at him for Danny's case or the trial. It was the perfect day.

Rose Tyler proposed to Alec Hardy.

And he turned her down.

He tried to be gentle, and in his own way he was. Rose's heart felt like a grape drying in the sun as he spoke to her like he would his teenage daughter trying to have her understand why it wasn't a good idea. She could have dealt with it if he said he wasn't the marrying kind, and she wouldn't blame him at all. While he did tell her that his failure with Tess soured the idea for him, he also told Rose that he wasn't the right man for her to marry. He couldn't have cut into her deeper if he tried. He was so gentle in persuading her that the man she should marry should be a healthy, younger man closer to her age, one without all of the baggage that he carried. Though she vehemently denied even thinking about children (a complete lie on her part), he still told her that her child's father should be someone that was more likely to be around for a while.

He still told her that he loved her, begged her not to leave him, and made her promise that she was okay. It was harder to swallow this than his reasoning. Rose felt her whole body convulsing, her chest aching and trembling just thinking that Alec would fear her leaving him just because he wouldn't marry him. After all they'd been through, he still didn't always believe she wanted to be with him, no matter how selfish she could get with him. And he cautiously indulged her most of the time. Despite how terrified she was in asking him, Rose still hoped he'd give her this much as well.

Claire called at the most inopportune moment of course. Rose might have wanted to persuade Alec, but he slipped away begrudgingly before she could ever get the chance. Though his relationship with her was strictly related to police work, Claire's demands of his time made Rose feel like she was the other woman in his life. It didn't help her wounds heal at all. But at least not seeing Alec very much for the following days made it easy for her to pretend like she didn't have any.

“I lied,” she averted his gaze and fought to contain her quivering lip. “You had to go, and there was no room or point in arguing.”

“I should have stayed.”

To watch her bawl her eyes out. It would have been quite romantic, to be sure.

Rose wiggled away from him and found a suitable perch on his bed, tucking her feet under her bum as she pulled a blanket over herself. She was growing tired of him staring at her as though she was a piece of evidence. His bed felt like a little island, safe from his prying eyes and pity. He'd dare pity her, the sniveling 20-something girl that wanted to marry the damaged detective twelve years her senior. As if she didn't know what she was getting herself into.

“Do you want to go back to London,” he murmured as he dipped a knee onto the bed.

Open the floodgates.

“You think.. you think.. that's what I want..?” She bleated as steaming hot tears cut through the layers of foundation and blush on her cheeks. “To leave you alone?”

She fought the urge to kick him off the bed as he scooted up to sit in front of her. “Well,” he half shrugged and muttered. He had a knack for getting under her skin. As much as it grated on her nerves, it endeared her to him, saw her falling for him so quickly after they met two years ago. She shook her head at him and actually did kick him a little as he scooted up further to yank at her blanket shield. It was all completely irrational, because she wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in his warm and spindly arms. “For fuck's sake woman, come here.” He brought her into his arms, tight, and kissed the top of her head.

“I want to hate you.”

“I'm okay with that.”

She punched his arm and moaned at him. “You're supposed to say 'no you don't,' or 'that hurts my feelings, Rose.'”

“So you just lied again.”

She growled at him and wrestled in his arms. “I do want to _smack_ you! That's the truth.”

They ended up on the bed, Rose beneath Alec. He couldn't catch himself before falling on top of her, and she might have been both reveling and hating how much she adored having his weight on her. Her hands were on his side of the matter, snaking up to wrap around his back before she could really think about it. His head tucked itself into the little nook formed by her neck and shoulder almost as if acting on instinct, like it belonged there. She felt him swallow against her neck, and shivered.

“You would be the most beautiful bride, Rose,” he told her as he lifted his head to look in her eyes. Surely she'd misheard him. She still couldn't bring herself to look at him, not with teary red eyes. But she did anyway. When he was so close it was almost unavoidable. His eyes were so warm, a comforting place to retreat to.

“You're not allowed to say that,” she squeaked, wanting to yell it at him.

His hand was firm as it pulled her into him, telling her to forget any notion of wiggling away from him. “I am. And you would. You told me to share with you. I'm sharing,” he whispered onto her cheek before he kissed a tear onto his lips. “I'd want this on you in white, for our wedding night.”

“No, you can't say that.” She squealed, and brought her hands to her now very warm face to hide behind. “You're _not_ _allowed_ to say that! How can you say that, after turning me down?”

He paused, and trailed a finger along her ribs down to her waist, where it caught on the thin band of her knickers. “Why do you stay with me? Why propose to me, and now of all times?”

Rose's breath hitched. They _would_ have this conversation right as he was beginning to do everything she wanted. He asked her such a monumental question as his calloused palm cupped her bum, as his thumb traced her hipbone. If she tried really hard maybe she could disappear into it all, she thought while puffing a warm sigh onto his shoulder.

Rose wiggled out from under Alec and got up onto her elbow so she could look at his skinny frame, trapped inside his drab clothes. When her gaze returned to his face, he met her eyes full on. They looked at her with that same empty stillness they had when he first told her about his heart condition. That first time she must have given away everything she was feeling, because he fell into her arms and broke into a sob. Tears, just for her, because that was the one time she'd been unable to hide how fearful she was for him. “Wait, is this about your heart? That why you don't want to talk about it, the surgery? You don't think you're going to survive this, do you?”

He turned on his side to mirror her pose, his breaths even, his hands as calm as the ocean on a quietwinter'snight. She felt more like a thunderstorm, shaking, occasional shouts and tearing up. She was a wreck, and his sympathetic thumbs brushing away her tears every now and again was a reminder of this.

“Look, Rose. Even if it does go well, I'm still..”

“Do you honestly think I didn't consider that? Would I be here if it was too much? If it really bothered me? Ellie and I were there in the hospital with you, remember? You'd be dead if it weren't for me, reminding you to take those pills, answering Marvin's calls that you ignore. Alec, I _love_ you!” She paused to breathe, oh the best breath, sucking in lungfuls of humid air between them. His eyes were darting about her face now, but he remained silent even as his brows curled and his lips twitched. “We're going to get through this together, you pillock. I don't care if you don't want to marry me, but you're going to survive this, _we're_ going to survive this, and - ”

“I do want to marry you.”

For a moment Rose's world felt like it was spinning, and she fell back into the bed to keep from fainting. Breathe, she reminded herself again. Breathe. Breathing is good. Even shaking breaths, rattling like a hummingbird trapped in her chest. “But you said..”

He shook his head. “What I should have said was I'm terrified, Rose. I just.. what if I don't make it?” He looked around, as if the darkening quiet room would provide him with an answer to all of his problems. The words he spoke trembled, like a pebble tumbling down a hill.

All she could do was catch him, and hold his hand. “Don't, Alec. Don't talk like that. We'll make it through, you and me both. We'll live in the moment til then, like we always do, yeah?”

He scooted up closer to her, his nose bumping hers, and cupped her face. “You really want this? With me?” She leaned into his hand and nodded, fresh tears trickling down to his palm. “Can I.. should I buy you a ring, then?” She pressed her face into his, brushing her tears onto his beard as she nodded again. “I want to make you happy, Rose. I do. Let me solve this case and get through this trial. We'll go away somewhere, eh, darlin'? I'll make time. Oh, please stop crying. That was supposed to make you stop.”

Rose gushed out a sobbing laugh against the thick patch of stubble on his cheek as she closed her eyes. She was so busy attempting to contain herself that his kiss surprised her. All she got as a warning was a single hot breath onto her lips before he captured them. He didn't linger, and his lips were so gentle as they brushed hers. A pair of warm arms enveloping hers was a quiet plea for her to calm down. And for this she tried as she sighed as he pulled her head into his shoulder and dropped a kiss to her hair. Silence fell into the warm air between them, all but the gentle lapping of the waves against the docks capped with chatting seagulls, and Rose's little sobs into Alec's shoulder. They even got a few minutes in before Alec's mobile buzzed.

Rose settled onto her back and stretched, wiggling her fingers above her head. She considered getting up so she could deposit this useless piece of clothing and put on proper jim jams while he talked with probably Miller on the phone. She sighed as he rolled over and plopped his sock feet onto the floor to get up and fumble with his mobile in the next room. She even watched him for a moment as he assaulted his windbreaker looking for it before she herself sat up. Before she could set her feet on the floor she heard that familiar metal clinking of a man's belt unfastening.

“Where are you going?” Alec asked, and released his trousers to show her the two pieces to his mobile, the battery and the device itself. “I'm here.”

Rose swallowed and looked on with heavy lidded eyes as Alec fished the hem of his oxford from his trousers and undid his tie. It was an excellent moment for her heart to remind her it was still quite functional, rapping her at her chest as Alec revealed his. His trousers were already sagging on his hips, so all it took was a button undone for them to fall to the floor. She didn't realize she'd been squirming a little until she found herself in his arms again, being eased back down to the nest of blankets and pillows on his bed.

“Let me take care of you for once, eh?”

“You don't.. I mean.. it's okay..” Rose bleated, cheeks heating up to a good kindling as Alec lay down beside her with a knee between her legs. Could he feel the heat quickly building up there? She couldn't be certain, but as his hips became flush with hers she felt something of his building up and she pulled in a quick breath.

“I want to. You put this on for me, I'd like to take advantage.”

Rose shook her head as his hand brushed her bra and moved to clutching a bit of chiffon between his fingers, humming a breath into her neck.

“I mean, I didn't.. it was on sale.. and I was just curious.. it wasn't meant to..”

“It's stunning on you,” he whispered into her neck before giving it a nibble. “Not that you need it, love.”

“But before you said..”

He chuffed. “Wasn't really looking before.”

It was as though he knew she couldn't be mad at him, not when he immediately followed these words with a languorous kiss that awakened too many senses at once. His lips were never dry, always soft and pink and moist as they brushed hers. But he'd always had that stubble, and it always scraped her skin, at times sending tremors straight from her lips to her toes. She craved another kiss, and nipped his lip to get it. Sometimes he was slow on the hints, but she did love a good chase. He wouldn't give her one this time, but he did sweep his tongue across her lip. She wouldn't tease, wouldn't make him work for this one. Rose moaned into his mouth as her leg wrapped around his thigh to bring his hips closer to hers. Her body ached for more contact, needed more heat despite how much was quickly building up between them.

She wasn't at all shameless in making certain he heard her whimper after he parted their lips to ask her, “You took your..?” he couldn't ever speak the word. He should have been able to at his age. He'd watched a woman give birth but couldn't bring himself to ask another about her birth control. She did love him.

“Yes,” she hissed as his lips traveled to her neck in a series of little wet pecks. He didn't even wait for her answer.

Rose relaxed, then realizing she'd been as stiff as a plank. He could have her melting into the pillows as he dropped kisses onto her neck and collarbone. He'd be silent now, she recalled with a sigh. She'd had boyfriends that would chat away, marveling verbally at all of her assets. Alec never did this, not with words at least. She'd considered herself a quiet lover, but he took the cake. All in all it wasn't a bad thing. It made the few words he did speak that much more meaningful, even if they weren't entirely sincere, like, “You've gone and made more work for me,” muttered into her neck.

“Sorry,” Rose teased as she raked her nails up his back.

“Oh, not complaining,” he offered her a little smile and added, “Promise you'll let me do this?”

Those would be the last words he'd speak for a while. Rose nodded and released some leftover tension in a giggle. He knew her all too well, that she tended to get impatient while not holding the reigns between them. He wriggled his thigh from under her leg so he could settle next to her, giving himself full access. And just as she predicted, he hooked his fingers under the straps to the bra of the negligee so he could slowly lower them to her arms. And he did lean to give each shoulder proper nibbles before his path took him southward to her chest.

His idle hand that wasn't nestled under her back joined his lips when they found the curves of her breasts. She'd been wrong about this one though. His fingers weren't at all delicate in the way they cupped her breast like it was an orange to squeeze. If he'd wanted to slow down and really savor every inch of lace between his fingers and her flesh, he made no indication of this. She'd always hated that he was never in a rush as she was. But in the moment when his tongue sneaked its way beneath the bra, she hoped and prayed that he wasn't in a rush. She could feel her heart pounding at his cheek and hoped so much that the reason his fingers rushed to cup her breast under the bra had little to do with his own heart. She imagined him speeding right through all of this with the fear that his heart might give out before they could be complete.

She guessed that he spent a minute or two struggling with whether he wanted to take the negligee off. He'd lower the straps further so he could better access the pebbling buds beneath her bra, only to raise them when he pulled back to kiss her. She tried not to be too eager, to not roll him over and lay claim to the delicious patch of skin behind his ear as she wanted to (but couldn't reach).

Rose's fingers dug into Alec's shoulder when he dove in and took a bit of the fabric into his mouth, teeth grazing the trapped nipple beneath. She gasped and whimpered at him, foul play. “You can take it off, I can always put it on again later,” she urged. He responded only with a look, but it spoke volumes, his eyes chiding her blushing face as he moved to give the other cup of her bra the same treatment as the first. Either way he was spoiling her, those eyes told her as he dampened the chiffon under his tongue. She couldn't leave well enough alone, impossible creature she was, he silently chuffed against gooseflesh between her mounds.

In the end they both won. He folded back the cups to her bra so he could gain access to the flesh beneath. But he wouldn't take the negligee off. She never assumed she was going to win. Alec wasn't always as predictable as one might expect. It was always the quiet ones, she'd been told oh so many times. He could be wild if he wanted to.

She didn't feel him buzzing any longer. No, she was soaking up his calm warmth, letting her skin drink him in wherever it could. Oh, and he was so much softer in places than a man ought to be, but in the best way. She shifted her hips into his thigh between her legs, letting the soft layer of peach fuzz brush her nethers.

Her moan of his name slipped past her lips between strangled breaths when his tongue finally came into contact with each eager pink point on her breasts. His hand wouldn't be joining it this time though. Rose didn't fight a powerful, quake of a squirm as she realized it was traveling down to her thigh. She rolled her hips just as his teeth were grazing her nipple and she gasped. He didn't tell her to take it easy, never had. Sometimes he'd grin and give her thigh a little tickle just to tease her. She savored those little cocky moments like most women did fine chocolate. But tonight he just concentrated, letting just a little bit of sweet, hot tension build up between her and the unknown.

She spent a moment imagining his hand just where she wanted it, cupping her mons before dipping a spindly finger into her heat. After he finished massaging her thigh he'd get a nice little surprise, she mused. She'd seldom felt as eager as she did tonight. Yet he still sometimes wondered what she saw in him, even when he looked up at her with her breast melting between his lips, still seeking permission for what he wanted to do. Did he know he still made her toes curl and desire coil between her thighs when he found her gaze from behind those bangs of his? And he'd never use this against her if he knew (which he certainly didn't, and she was okay with this).

Rose had been finding it all too difficult to behave and let Alec do what he pleased until he tugged at the thin strings to her knickers to pull them off her hips. She swallowed and sighed a moan when his head returned to its nook between her neck and shoulder as his palm did indeed cup her sex. As much as she wanted to kiss him, or eagerly lap up every bit of briny sweetness that liked to gather beneath his jaw, she lay back and behaved, knowing she'd be handsomely rewarded for her efforts.

“Rose,” he whispered into her ear just as his a few fingers were reacquainting themselves with her sex.  
She closed her eyes and hummed back at him. It was as close as she'd get to a promise that she'd not interrupt him. The only move she made was to shift her hips so they were flush with his. As his thumb teased her hot button and a finger toyed with dipping into her heat she needed to know that he was thinking about their eventual meeting, too. She couldn't be certain what he was thinking, but the throbbing length digging into her hip was offering up some strong hints. He couldn't say that his heart was completely dysfunctional when it could still pump so much blood right where he wanted it to.

“Rose,” he repeated, and nipped at her neck. “Do me a favor.”

“Yeah,” she squeaked and croaked as he dipped his finger inside her. She clenched around him.

“Ask me again?”

Her eyes flew open and she turned to look at him. “What, right now?”

“Please,” he answered in that commanding tone he never used in bed. The one that sent a hot shiver rocketing to her core just as he began to pump his finger inside her. Oh, and she bet he knew it, too.

“Be my husband?” Rose blurted out, quick as she could. It was far easier the first time.

His head was moving south before he answered. He did kiss the little bow in the center of the negligee before nuzzling his nose between the part in the fabric there. “You're a tease,” she muttered as he kissed the dip below her ribs. Her heart was pounding so hard, beating so fast that her hands were quivering. She started clawing at blankets, but they slipped between her fingers like water. She squeezed his hand between her thighs to keep it still as his face continued its journey south, stopping only at her navel to kiss it before he rested his chin on the little patch of curls on her abdomen.

It had felt like a never-ending moment. But as Alec's eyes fluttered shut and he sighed, she considered the idea that maybe she was just that anxious. A single tear escaped his eye before he brushed it away with his free hand. He'd been through so much, done so much. Rose didn't want to imagine what went on in his head. She knew the stresses of his work only vaguely, but felt them acutely, straining their relationship. All he wanted to do was lose himself in this case, to see the light at the end of its tunnel. Rose asked so much of him, to not only stay alive but to _live._ And maybe in this little moment he needed to be reminded of the first time she asked, perhaps to pretend it was the first time, that he'd never denied her. He'd have her, in the end it didn't matter.

“Be my bride, eh, darlin'?” he parroted back at her and kissed her thigh.

“You told me to ask you.”

“Wanted to hear it again.”

She bit back her comment of him being a bit of an arse because he offered her sweet puppy eyes while awaiting her answer. At least she could say she knew him well enough. He'd asked her, wanted her, had always wanted her. And she could almost bask in this knowledge, a cool ray of moonshine on a warm summer's night. That was Alec, she mused. She could only offer him a goofy nod, because her ability to make words had been soaked up by her efforts to ground her hips to the bed so she didn't shove them in his face. He couldn't know how much relief she needed, how much he was the only one who could release her.

“Yeah,” she croaked finally.

“I need you so much, Rose,” he sighed onto her damp heat, finally removing his finger to pop into his mouth. Rose looked away and closed her eyes.

It could have meant one of two things. And she'd never learn the answer, because he gazed up at her with eyes warmer than the sunset that had been providing the light for their lovemaking. It was dark now, but those eyes set her heart ablaze with their warmth.

And if she thought they'd leave her just because his mouth cupped her sex, she would be quite mistaken. Rose squirmed as Alec's gaze burrowed into her heavy-lidded eyes. He saw her chest heave as he scooped his tongue along her opening. His eyes followed hers when his hand grasped her hip curtained in lavender lace. He always asked her if he was doing well when he did this, usually with her clit between his teeth. Alec arrested her attention so well that he didn't need to. She wanted so much to close her eyes. She could lose herself in her other senses. She could take in the heady aroma of her own arousal that was coating the air like a thick morning fog. She could certainly abandon everything but the sensation of his slick tongue beneath her folds, or that squeaking suckling sound he made that always flooded a heavy ripe blush to her cheeks. She did all of this without closing her eyes this time. He'd captured not only her hot button between his teeth but her voice in her throat. She'd wanted to moan his name, especially when she felt her hips and her climax cresting. But she didn't need to. Her plea for release must have been written all over her face. And he'd never deny her.

By the time Alec was beside her again, he had turned her into a madly trembling Rose puddle. She might have at some point after all this expressed her love for him. Or perhaps it was a moan or a sigh, she couldn't be sure. She was sure that she could still vividly feel his scruff tickling her thighs and his tongue flicking at her clit as she groaned a mixture of variations of his name along with swears. Her heart was pounding into her ear much in the same fashion that her sex was throbbing. Not coming down off of a high, but already awaiting the next thrill.

He might have tricked her a bit, making her think he would have her wait a little as he pulled her into a tight spoon. He lifted up her negligee so his arms were wrapped around her properly. The last of the sunlight gave way to a bright crescent moon lighting Alec's little bedroom as he whispered into her ear, “together?” She didn't answer with words, but hoped that he knew the idea had never sounded so sweet as it did then while she aided them in joining.

She could go into the lewd details. And on any other occasion she most certainly would. On any other occasion their sex would be a simple affair, even if he did manage to see her to peak so high she could scarcely breathe. The lewd details would be all she could really give away.

Except this time, Alec held Rose close, like a leaf that would slip through his fingers and fly away on the wind if he didn't clutch her tightly enough. This time, there was no doubt he was making love to her with a gentle rocking of his hips that didn't distract him from what he whispered in her ear. She never ever got to hear from him all at once how beautiful he thought she was, how she lit up his life, kept his heart going, how he didn't deserve her. He'd certainly never nearly broke her heart with such words while making love to her, while pausing between words to lay claim to a bit of skin on her neck.

He wouldn't even give her a chance to interrupt, to chastise him for not being kinder to himself. Each time she opened her mouth he craned his neck to kiss her, to take her breath away. And if all of that wasn't enough, he lifted her thigh a little so his hand could slip under it and work her up to another climax while he told her what a perfect bride she would be. Alec would leave no room for Rose to have any doubts. He had her feeling like Icarus, like it was all too good to be true and her wings would melt. Oh, but as they closed their eyes and Rose imagined flying with him straight into a blissful sun, he melted into her and set her insides ablaze.

It was the sort of moment that was meant to end straight away. But even as Alec drifted off to sleep, Rose relived it over and over again. The sex she might have forgotten. But the feeling of rightness and completion he'd given her would never wash away. It might have been born of fear, of wanting to give her a perfect night before his surgery, happy memories to draw on. But all the same, what he shared with her and nobody else, words whispered right to the heart, she would keep there.

Alec awoke from his heart surgery wearing a wedding band on his finger. They couldn't wait, and it was one decision that he'd never regret. He could think of nobody better to commit the rest of his life to than a woman who could truly have him leaving all of his fears and regrets behind him.

 

 

 


End file.
